What About OTHER Religions

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What About OTHER Religions?
Surely there is another way to God than just
Jesus Christ?
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• Did God choose the various religions to reach
  different people in different places?
• Are ALL religions equal in their purpose to bring
  people close to God?

There must be many ways
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What Does the Bible Teach about this?

• Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and
  the life. No one comes to the Father except
  through Me. John 146
• "Nor is there salvation in any other, for there
  is no other name under heaven given among men by
  which we must be saved." Acts 412
• Therefore, as through one mans offense judgment
  came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even
  so through one Mans righteous act the free gift
  came to all men, resulting in justification of
  life. Romans 518

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Did you know that ALL other religions teach
EXCLUSIVENESS TOO?

• Islam teaches that Muhammad is the ONE true
  prophet and that all other religions are false.
• Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, and of course Judaism
  exclude other religions as false and misguided,
  wrong, and unable to bring people to God.

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Why do ALL major religions exclude each other?

• Would you want to join a religious teaching that
  didnt see itself as THE truth? Our religion is
  just one among many from God The result is that
  truth is elusive and loosely defined.
• Would you want to join something that taught it
  wasnt necessarily the ONLY truth?
• Would you feel secure in a teaching that said
  other religions are just as valid were not sure?

In other words, "They don't know..."
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Not Knowing is THE common experience of humanity

• In not knowing God, where we came from, why we
  are here, where we are going this plagues all of
  us
• In not knowing the truth, the answers, the
  solutions, the reasons, this plagues all of us
  too
• The Bible defines being LOST as a person NOT
  KNOWING(i.e. not knowing where we are going Not
  knowing God!)

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In regards to exclusiveness Think of a Marriage

• Ill marry you but Im not going to be exclusive
  to you.
• Im not sure youre the one for me so lets just
  live together.
• Im not sure I love youbut youll do.
• How personal is that? How satisfying is that?

Exclusiveness is the reason we get married
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If God is NOT personal then it doesnt
matterYet, a bride is supposed to be VERY
personal to a husband!

• Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem,
  coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a
  bride adorned for her husband. Revelations 212
• saying, "Come, I will show you the bride, the
  Lambs wife." Revelations 219

The Bible makes it very personal between God and
humanity
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It is ALL about KNOWING God (personally)

• "None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none
  his brother, saying, Know the LORD, for all
  shall know Me, from the least of them to the
  greatest of them. Hebrews 811
• "And then I will declare to them, I never knew
  you depart from Me, you who practice
  lawlessness! Matthew 723

I never knew You!
Throw away...
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• The Bible clearly teaches that Jesus is the only
  way to God.
• Many take this to be dogmatic and impractical,
  head strong, or even just wrong.
• So God is personal and Narrow Minded if the Bible
  is correct?

CLEAR
Head-strong Dogmatic!
Straight
Narrow
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The Bible teaches there is ONLY One God

• "Hear, O Israel The LORD our God, the LORD is
  one! Deuteronomy 64
• That they may know from the rising of the sun to
  its setting That there is none besides Me. I am
  the LORD, and there is no other Isaiah 456
• there is no other God besides Me, A just God
  and a Savior There is none besides Me. Isaiah
  4521

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Despite the belief of some religions in many
godsmost major religions have ONE SUPREME BEING

• In Islam its Allah
• In Hinduism its Vishnu
• In Buddhism its Brahman
• In Judaism Christianity its Jehovah
• In Native American religions its the Great
  Spirit

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If theres ONLY One God why cant we all JUST get
along?

• We could if truth didnt matter and we denied
  realities
• We could if we ignore whats going on and
  eliminated the contradictions
• However, the devil is in the DETAILS.

Look the other way...
Details
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What All religions offer

• An attempt to reach God.
• to teach morality what is good and what is evil.
  To explain what God expects
• A way to worship, pray, and relieve guilt
• A way to make it to heaven
• A way to explain the world, existence, and
  purpose
• To explain suffering and sin

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Religions Primary Task is to Reach God
God sent His Son!

• There is ONE religion where God came to reach US!
• The Great Claim is that God became one of us,
  lived, taught, showed us the Father, and then
  solved the problem that separated us from Him!

Question What was separating US from God?
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Why are We all born NOT KNOWING God?

• The Bibles answer But your iniquities have
  separated you from your God And your sins have
  hidden His face from you, So that He will not
  hear. Isaiah 592
• THE PROBLEM How can a Holy God commune with
  sinners?

Rebellion against God's will...
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Religions answers

• It is by being good enough in the hopes that God
  will accept us
• It is by sacrificing enough in hopes that God
  will accept us
• It is by asking for forgiveness and trying to
  make restitution enough in the hope that God will
  accept us
• It is by practicing spiritual disciplines enough
  in the hopes that God will accept us

But NONE of these bridges the gap between us and
God...
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In each of these efforts in whatever Religion we
may be practicingWe STILL dont know if any of
these things are ENOUGH?

• There is one area that we CAN understand it is a
  question that CAN be understood
• It is something we EXPERIENCE almost everyday in
  our world and it POINTS to the ANSWER!
• It SEPARATES the ONE TRUE path to God from among
  the MANY being offered!

It pierces the deceptions
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No religion (Except One) provides a satisfactory
answer to this question!
THE QUESTION

• If God is just
  AND God is merciful, how does justice and mercy
  find peace/satisfaction in a sinful person IN
  RELATIONSHIP TO GOD?
• If you can grasp this, I think youll find an
  UNRESOLVABLE CONFLICT!

How can both be satisfied?
Justice
Mercy
How to balance...
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Examine it...

• Mercy defined is that we don't get what we
  deserve. We dont reap what weve sown

• Justice defined is eye for eye, foot for foot,
  and life for life--There is no TRUE justice
  otherwise. We reap what weve sown

Vs.
Go
Mercy cancels out justice and leaves it undone
Justice cancels out mercy and leaves it undone
WE CANT HAVE BOTH! Where and how can they
both be satisfied?
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• No religion offers an answer.
• Religious teachings put it off as a mystery of
  divine magnitude.
• THE CONFLICT is real Both of these attributes
  cannot be fulfilled in our lives concerning God.
• If we demand justice there is no mercy.
• If we demand mercy there is no justice.

AGAIN
thinking going on...
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Jesus Shows us the problem

• A woman caught in adultery was brought before
  Jesus by religious leaders. The Law of God
  requires an adulteress be stonedthey wanted to
  trap Jesus into condemning her.
• So when they continued asking Him, He raised
  Himself up and said to them, "He who is without
  sin among you, let him throw a stone at her
  first." John 87

Words heard around the world!
Judge Not Lest You Be Judged!
Justice upon her would mean justice upon anyone
who judged her
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Look at this way

• If someone kills anotherTRUE justice means the
  KILLER should be put to death!
• If someone cuts off anothers armTRUE justice
  means the offenders arm should be cut off!
• Mercy means neither the killer nor the offender
  get what they deserve

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In Which Case is Justice AND Mercy Satisfied?
No peace...

• Neither oneright? When TRUE justice is rendered
  it really becomes a LOSE/LOSE situationboth
  people die both people lose an arm.
• If Mercy is given one person lives and the other
  doesnt lose their armbut both live with the
  fact that they destroyed anothers life! The
  victims receive NO JUSTICE at all!

Lose/Lose
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• Many religions simply ignore this problem or
  solve it by placing the answer in DIVINE MYSTERY.
  
• There is no religion that brings Justice and
  Mercy together and creates peace where by BOTH
  are satisfied.
• There is NOT one EXCEPT Christ in Christianity
  that
• solves the problem

Look the other way
Justice
Mercy
Satisfied!
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In the cross justice and mercy meet.
Righteousness and peace kiss each other! Mercy
and truth have met together Righteousness and
peace have kissed. Psalms 8510
The Bibles answer is the cross of Jesus.
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How?

• IN SATISFYING JUSTICE
• Jesus the righteous Holy One, substitutes in our
  place, lays down his life for the world.
• In dying, Jesus satisfies Gods holy judgment
  AGAINST sin. What we sowed in sin Jesus reaped
  on the cross in His death!

The Law of Truth is Satisfied!
It is written The Wages of Sin is Death!
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Also

• IN SATISFYING MERCY
• Jesus is raised from the dead, ...because I live
  you shall live also!
• For ANYONE who calls upon the name of the Lord,
  there is mercy.
• Through the blood of Christ, Gods wrath passes
  over us, we dont get what we deserve!

Jesus save Me!
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Mercy
Justice

• Justice and Mercy have met each other, in the
  cross, in Christ, In Him.
• The Substitution works because Jesus being
  sinless offers Himself as a Lamb to be slain for
  the sins of every person.
• Rising from the Dead AND being the God/Man
  Immanuel He becomes the eternal connection
  between God and Man.

What really matters is that God IS SATISFIED!
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There is NO OTHER way

• If you can find another way, then what Jesus went
  through in being crucified would have been for
  nothing.
• He said, Father, if it is possible, let this cup
  pass from Me! He prayed it three times!
• God the Father did NOT let the cup pass from Him.

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If there was another way

• Would you send your only begotten Son to die a
  horrible death? Would you let Him be rejected,
  beaten, scourged, and crucified for nothing,
  (just for a show)?
• If you were Jesus would you offer yourself to be
  crucified WHEN THERE ARE OTHER WAYS?

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True Justice and Mercy is something We can
understand and as we do it points to the
Cross! No other religion satisfies this problem
and since Christ in Christianity doesit provides
powerful understanding for WHY Jesus is THE ONLY
WAY TO GOD!
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• So when Jesus says, l am the way, the truth, and
  the life no one comes to the Father except by
  Me. (John 146) He means it.
• He means it because only through His life are
  justice and mercy completely satisfied, both
  finding fulfillment, and both coming together in
  the Messiah on the cross.
• Unless you have the Son, you do not have life, (I
  John 44) because Justice will demand your
  eternal death outside of Him But in Him, Mercy
  is found eternally. It is ONLY through the cross
  that true forgiveness is satisfied and found.

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The Conclusion

• Christianity stands alone in solving the God to
  man relationship problem.
• Jesus said, Unless you believe that I am He, you
  will die in your sins!
• Why? It is because there is no other place, and
  in no other person, where Justice and Mercy can
  meet.
• He is the answer. Do you know this? Have you
  turned to Him? Have you been saved? Has Gods
  peace found its rest in you?
• Do You Want to understand more? See the Message
  on this DVD entitled Two Proofs.